List of winter festivals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an incomplete list of festivals and holidays that take place during the winter in the northern hemisphere, especially those commemorating the season. Many festivals of light take place in this period since the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere is the Winter Solstice. See also Christmas around the world for more information about Christmas specifically.
Holidays are listed in chronological order under each heading.
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[edit] Celtic
- Samhain: November 1 - first day of winter in the Celtic calendar (and Celtic New Year's Day)
- Winter Solstice: December 21~December 22 - midwinter
- Imbolc: February 1 - first day of spring in the Celtic calendar
[edit] Chinese
- Dong zhi: Winter solstice
- Signature of the Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan) : December 25 - a secular national holiday, which due to its date is celebrated in some respects like Christmas
- Chinese New Year (late January - early February) - considered the end of winter in the traditional Chinese calendar
[edit] Christian
- Advent: four weeks prior to Christmas - preparing for the birth of Christ.
- Saint Nicholas' Day: December 6
- Christmas Eve: December 24
- Christmas: December 25 - celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, traditionally having taken place in 1 BC
- 12 Days of Christmas: December 25 through January 6
- Saint Stephen's Day: December 26
- Saint John the Evangelist's Day: December 27
- Holy Innocents' Day: December 28
- Saint Sylvester's Day: December 31
- Watch Night: December 31
- Feast of the Circumcision: January 1
- Feast of Fools: January 1
- Twelfth Night: Epiphany Eve January 5
- Epiphany - January 6: the arrival of the Three Magi.
- Eastern Orthodox Christmas according to the Julian Calendar: January 7
- Candlemas: February 2
- St. Valentine's Day: February 14
[edit] Germanic
- Modranect: or Mothers' Night, the Saxon winter solstice festival.
- Yule: the Germanic winter solstice festival
[edit] Jewish
- Hanukkah: Starting on 25 Kislev (Hebrew) or various dates in December (Gregorian) - eight day festival commemorating the miracle of the oil after the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his defeat in 165 BCE.
- Purim: Occurring on 14th or 15th day of adar, late February to March.
[edit] Muslim
- Eid ul-Adha: Starting on the 10th of Dhul Hijja, a four day holiday commemorating the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael.
[edit] Pagan and neopagan
- Yule: (Winter Solstice) - Germanic Pagan festival of the rebirth of the Sun
- Imbolc : (February 1 or 2) - festival of candles
- Winter Solstice: (December 21) - New Age festival
[edit] Persian
- Yalda: (Winter Solstice) - Birth of Sun God Mehr
- Sadeh: waiting for arriving of the summer from 50 days before in the winter.
[edit] Polynesian
[edit] Roman
- Saturnalia: the Roman winter soltice festival
- Festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun: late Roman Empire - December 25
- Hedgehog Day, the archaic European version of Groundhog Day, dating back to Roman times - February 2
- Lupercalia, the Roman end-of-winter festival - February 15
[edit] Secular
- Yulefest - June - Australian "Christmas in Winter"
- Winterval - secular name for winter festivities coined by Birmingham City Council to encompass all holidays being recognized from October to January
- Zamenhof Day - December 15 - Birthday of Ludwig Zamenhof, inventor of Esperanto; holiday reunion for Esperantists
- Winter Solstice, Yule - December 21 or December 22 - Celebration of the Winter Solstice.
- HumanLight - December 23 - Humanist holiday originated by the New Jersey Humanist Network
- Chrismukkah - slang term for the amalgam of Christmas and Hanukkah celebrated by religiously mixed families and couples
- Yuletide - December 25 - classic and modern, respectively, terms for the social and federal December 25th holiday
- Boxing Day - December 26 - gift-giving day after Christmas.
- Kwanzaa
- Hogmanay - December 31 - Scottish New Years Eve
- New Years Eve - last day of the Gregorian year
- New Year's Day - January 1 - first day of the Gregorian year
- Interlingua Day - January 15 - a day to popularize Interlingua
- Burns Night - January 25 - birthday of Robert Burns
- Groundhog Day - February 2
- Quebec City Winter Carnival - February - Annual celebration of winter.
[edit] Slavic
- Karachun - the pagan winter solstice festival
[edit] Zen Buddhist
[edit] Fictional
- Pule: December 25 - Fictional replacement for Christmas created on the show Jimmy Neutron
- Life Day: November 17 - the most important day of the Wookiee year in the Star Wars saga
- Festivus: December 23 - quirky holiday famously invented on the show Seinfeld
- Festival of the Bells: Midwinter celebration in Fraggle Rock, also mentioned in A Muppet Family Christmas.
- Decemberween: December 25 - A holiday in the Homestar Runner universe, occurring 55 days after Halloween.
- Hogswatchnight: December 32 - New Year's Eve/Christmas in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (plays on Hogmanay, Watch Night, and "hogwash")
- Winter-een-mas: January 25 - January 31 - from Ctrl+Alt+Del
- Winterfair: from the Vorkosigan novels written by Lois McMcaters Bujold; a Barrayarran cultural holiday
- Chrismukkah: the modern-day merging of the holidays of Christianity's Christmas and Judaism's Hanukkah.
- Chrismahanukwanzakah: the modern-day merging of the holidays of Christianity's Christmas, Judaism's Hanukkah, and the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa.
